Europe backs carbon capture technology with £8 bn fund as UK Government advisers push for tighter emission targets

At the same time, the UK Government’s Climate Change Committee has called for cuts of greenhouse gas emissions of at least 80 per cent by 2050, which if accepted in full, will effectively bar new coal-fired power stations in the UK without full CCS capability.

In Brussels, the European Parliament has committed to about £7.7billion to help build around 12 power stations equipped to capture and store carbon dioxide. The tough regulation will also force energy companies to adopt CCS technology and sets the carbon dioxide emissions limit for coal-fired power stations to 500 grams of CO2 per kilowatt/hour.

But the amended Directive on Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide still has to get through two further levels of legislature, including the European Council of Environment ministers, where there is likely to be powerful lobbying against the changes by some European states.

CCS involves capturing the carbon dioxide emitted from the burning of fossil fuels, transporting it and storing it in a secure geological facility.

The new standard on emissions would apply to all power stations from 2015, but it unlikely the CCS technology would be available on a commercial scale by then and it is still unclear if it would rule out plans for the controversial new coal plant at Kingsnorth in Kent, proposed by E.ON.

CCS is backed by campaigning groups but also by the UK’s Environment Agency, which last month called for faster progress on proving CCS technology on a commercial scale.

Lord Chris Smith, chairman of the Environment Agency, said then: “Building a new generation of coal fired power stations without capturing the carbon emissions would lock the UK into using high carbon technology for decades to come – this is not an environmentally sustainable way of generating power given the challenges we face with climate change.”

The UK Government’s Climate Change Committee has recommended greenhouse gas emissions of at least 80 per cent by 2050 because it feels current targets would not be enough to avoid catastrophic effects of climate change on the UK. Significantly, it has also recommended cuts across all sectors of the economy, including international aviation and shipping. The UK Climate Change Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament, originally set a 60 per cent carbon reduction target.

Campaigning group, Friends of the Earth, has called on the UK Government to strengthen its proposed legislation in the light of the recommendation by its own advisers.

"The committee's advice is fantastic news - climate change is the biggest threat the planet faces,” said Friends of the Earth's executive director, Andy Atkins. "If we are to play our part in avoiding a climate catastrophe, the new climate law must require future governments to slash UK emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050.”

The European Parliament Environmental Committee also supported an expansion of Europe’s carbon emissions trading scheme that would force power generators to pay for 100 per cent of their emissions allowances, beginning in 2013. They currently receive most for free.